Undertow by Michael Buckley

I really enjoyed the fact that book didn’t fit neatly into a single category. I could probably book talk this a few different ways, depending on the reader seeking a recommendation! Readers who enjoyed the fantastic, blood-thirsty mermaids in Lies Beneath will likely be enthralled by the different races of the Alphas and their various body types, weapons, and powers. Fans of The Hunger Games are sure to appreciate the various layers of societal resistance, government involvement, and fighting for survival. And, of course, readers who prefer their dystopias with a side of angsty/forbidden love, like in the Delirium series, will not be disappointed!

When the Alpha emerge from the Atlantic and set up camp on the shores of Coney Island, Lyric Walker’s world is turned upside down. Her mother, who came with a smaller “scout” group of Alpha is desperate to find her family but needs to remain hidden — for fear that she will either be punished by the Alpha or taken away by the US government for medical experimentation at a secret internment camp to which most of the other “scout” Alphas were relocated. Lyric knows that she is supposed to keep a low profile so that no one discovers the truth about her mother’s identity, but she somehow ends up being assigned as a peer mentor to the Alpha prince. With the impending threat of harm to her family and the very real possibility of war between the humans and the Alphas, it’s no wonder Lyric’s every move had me on the edge of my seat.